goodbyes and new adventures ahead

today we depart from Dharamsala. we say goodbye to our homestay families and language teachers and take a bumpy jeep ride to an Indian train station (which i hear will be quite an interesting experience), overnight train to Delhi, Delhi for 2 days, then a flight to Kathmandu Nepal! we will then be in Kathmandu studying Buddhism under a teacher (not an academic professor, but an actual Buddhist master) for just short of a week before flying over mt everest and trekking through Tibet.... so i don't know when i might get another chance to post (maybe in Kathmandu and maybe in Lhasa.... but no guarantees).

i don't know if i stated in any earlier posts, but the Dalai Lama left Dharamsala 2 days after we arrived here (for America), and he returned 2 days before our departure. the timing was too much off to get our group to have an audience with him, but whenever he has travelled somewhere in a car (such as this morning to come to a government event right near my homestay residence) i have been there with the tibetans lining his path to greet him and receive a blessing. this morning his car sat 5 feet from me for a decent minute of time... and it made my day. i am not the type to go gaga like i've just seen a celebrity (even though i suppose i have)... but there is just something about that man that makes being in his presence feel so divine. this has happened twice since he returned from America. when i come back to Dharamsala for my independent study, my family says i will be able to have an audience with him and receive a personal blessing. even if that doesn't happen, i am content just spending this time in this place he calls home for now.

yesterday we went to the Karmapa's temple and received a blessing from him. it was a very wonderful experience. i was very ill before going and almost didn't go because my stomach was feeling so shaky... but decided i did not want to miss out on the opportunity. after receiving a blessing and leaving the temple, i felt like i hadn't been sick at all... and have felt healthy ever since. you can interpret it however you want... i simply embraced it without trying to analyze the possibilities.

thank you to everyone who visits this site and reads my ramblings, and thank you for all of your comments. they help me feel connected to all the people i care for that are so far away from me right now. i am always distracted and discombobulated when i come to an internet cafe to post something... so i hope you'll forgive the lack of depth in some of my entries. the real sharing of the experience will happen when i come home.

be well!